Page 16 - March 2021 EGuide proof - The Castle Pines Connection

“If you’re not a regular here, you will be.”
A Littttle Taste of Home Article and photo(s) by Chris Michlewicz
O’Brien’s Cafe
Est: 1994 where friends get together
Everyone knows the adage “Home Is Where the Heart Is.” It turns out the same can be said for Sedalia’s hometown diner.
By the time Donna Ingman opened O’Brien’s Cafe in 1994, she had already forged close relationships with hundreds of people in and around Sedalia. Ingman worked at Johnson’s Corner – where Wide Open Saloon now stands just up the street – for about 14 years before deciding to open O’Brien’s Cafe with her mother, Arlene O’Brien. She came to know a slew
of regulars at Johnson’s Corner. All these years later, Ingman still sees many of those same faces, and she greets them as if they are one of her own.
“They all feel like family,” she said.
In fact, Ingman’s charm and reputation for excellent personalized service are the reasons she came to co-own O’Brien’s Cafe. The proprietor of a struggling diner that previously occupied the space was looking to sell, and townspeople seemed to recommend the same potential buyer.
“He gave me a call and said, ‘I want out. Everyone in town said to give you a call,’” Ingman explained.
Despite never owning a business, she’d watched closely as Johnson’s Corner changed hands multiple times, taking note of what worked and what didn’t.
Real food made from scratch
Twenty-seven years later, Ingman has no regrets and retains the passion she’s always had for waiting tables. She works at O’Brien’s seven days a week, open to close, except when she’s at her other business, Sedalia Bakery, which she opened six years ago due to the demand for her mouthwatering baked goods.
Eating actual made-from-scratch food at a restaurant is becoming more rare in the age of one-size-fits-all chains, and that’s where O’Brien’s undoubtedly stands out from the rest. The biscuits and gravy are both prepared from scratch each morning; same goes for the potatoes used in the hashbrowns and the green chile that smothers the breakfast burritos. When asked what her specialty is, Ingman provides a simple reply: “Real food.”
The five-page menu features favorites –
chicken fried steak corned beef hash home made meatloaf...
and also less-traditional dishes like the Texas omelet (jalapeno cream cheese, bacon, mushrooms, onions) and the Mighty Meat skillet (bacon, ham and sausage grilled with
onions, atop a melty
cheese blend and covered
in your choice of country
gravy or homemade green
chili). Ingman’s personal
favorite changes about every three weeks; currently, she’s hooked on the huevos rancheros, made by their longtime chef, Jesus Bueno.